Tigers ride the storm out

Missouri entered the second half of its dual against Cornell yesterday trailing by three points but had the higher-ranked wrestler in three of the remaining five matches.

Missouri Coach Brian Smith wasnít quite sure what to expect because one of those wrestlers, second-ranked Nick Marable, was battling sickness, and another, Mark Ellis, hadnít wrestled on a sore right ankle in almost a week.

The Tigers got gutsy performances from both as Marable beat a wrestler ranked in the top five for the second straight week and Ellis ended his four-match losing streak against ranked opponents to help close out a 21-13 win over Cornell at the Hearnes Center. Eleventh-ranked Missouri improved to 7-2-1 in duals.

"I wouldnít say I was winded, but my body got real fatigued like when youíre sick," Marable said. "It wasnít a pretty win, but it got the job done, I guess."

No. 16 Cornell (1-5) won the dualís first two matches. After No. 8 Jordan Leen beat Missouriís 14th-ranked Michael Chandler 4-2 at 157 pounds, the Big Red led 10-7. But Marable, who beat then-No. 5 Jake Dieffenbach of Oklahoma State on Jan. 19, followed that with a crucial 3-2 win over fourth-ranked Mack Lewnes at 165 pounds.

Marable missed a day of practice earlier this week because of a sickness, but when he woke up yesterday morning, he felt fine. Marable scored a takedown at the 1:30 mark in the first period and, after an escape in the second, he led 3-1 heading into the third period.

Thatís when Missouriís coaches could tell Marable wasnít feeling well. They brought a trash can to the side of the mat, but Marable took it into a tunnel and, after a few minutes, returned to the mat. He then allowed an escape to make it 3-2 before holding off numerous Lewnes scoring opportunities for the win.

Cornell Coach Rob Koll said he wished his freshman would have been the aggressor earlier in the match. Early points could have given Lewnes the edge late in a match against a visibly weary Marable.

"Then maybe at least we could have put it into overtime. In overtime, I think we would have had him, because he definitely didnít have much left," Koll said. "Heís throwing up halfway through the match - obviously heís tired."

Three matches later, 13th-ranked Ellis took his heavily-taped right ankle onto the mat against No. 10 Zach Hammond and came away with his most impressive win since the Las Vegas Cliff Keen Invitational in December. Since that tournament, in which Ellis pinned two ranked wrestlers to finish seventh, the sophomore heavyweight is 0-4 against ranked opponents.

In his three previous matches, he had lost close decisions to the Nos. 1, 6 and 7 wrestlers. So even if a Missouri forfeit wouldnít have given Cornell the dual win, Ellis said he would have wrestled.

"I made up my mind this morning when I woke up," Ellis said.

Ellis tried desperately to keep the injured ankle away from Hammond and out of stressful positions. As a result, his offense was limited. After three regulation periods and an overtime period, it was tied at 1. In the first 30-second overtime segment, Ellis escaped in 4 seconds and, in the second segment, he rode Hammond out for the 3-2 win.

"It wasnít the typical Ellis, usually shooting a lot," Smith said. "I was just hoping he was wrestling a good, smart match and not hurt it."

Though Ellis contends he would have wrestled Hammond no matter what the score had been, Smith said that if Max Askren had pinned Taylor Moore at 197 pounds, the heavyweight wouldnít have wrestled. Askren didnít put the dual away with a pin, but he and 184-pounder Raymond Jordan took advantage of the weakest part of Cornellís lineup.

With Cornell leading 13-10, Jordan held a slim 4-2 lead over Kansas City native Michael Moore heading into the third period. But in a tie-up at the beginning of the final period, Jordan could hear Moore breathing heavily, which was his cue to turn up the pressure. He took Moore down five times in third period, four coming in the final 1:20, and a stall call and riding-time advantage gave him a 17-6 win.

Askren put his match out of reach in the first period when he took down Taylor Moore, Michaelís twin brother, three times in the first period. Askren added another takedown in the second period, two in the third and accumulated 3:45 of riding time in a 16-3 major decision.

"Coach wants us to get bonus points," Jordan said. "But he says go out there and look for the win first. You donít go out there trying big throws and crazy moves and things like that and end up on your back. So we went out there and got the wins first and then tacked on the points."